3 Tips to Help You FOIL Away From Turns to Toeside

Right now there’s a great thread going in the foiling forums, about how to ride away with power while foiling from heelside, to toeside. If you’re struggling to achieve one of the coolest moves in kite foiling, read on for three tips on how to nail the maneuver.

1: The kite doesn’t know whether you’re toeside or not.
While that might seem obvious, it’s true! The kite will do what you tell it to, and perform relating to whatever angle you are riding. So let the kite do its thing, and sort out the board/foil combo. This mainly relates to keeping line tension through the turn. As you exit the carve in the other direction, toeside, make sure you pump the foil hard upwind to maintain line tension and power. Without it, you’ll lose speed, and the foil will stall.

2: Keep your weight forward, with hips over the front foot.
When riding a twintip or surfboard, you can get away with stomping on your back foot to get around the turn. It’s the opposite with a foil, where you need to drive forward and around the turn to keep speed and momentum. As you begin the carve, stand up tall and weight your front foot. The foil might dive a little, but that’s good for speed and stability. Keep it turning, and pull hard upwind in the new direction to keep foiling away.

3: Try underlooping the kite.
Because foils are so efficient, with a normal kite transition, you’ll need to make the turn very quickly to keep line tension. By underlooping, you’ll be able to slow down the turn and make a looooooooong drawn out arc. Don’t be afraid of the underloop pulling you hard, because you will be riding towards it, just commit to the turn, pull hard on that bar and remember to get comfortable riding in the new direction before untwisting your lines.